RTÉ paid top presenters too much, says station chief

RTÉ MAY lose some of its most popular presenters as a result of a 30 per cent cut in their wages but they will be replaced by new talent, director general Noel Curran said last night.

Speaking at Dublin City University, Mr Curran admitted RTÉ had made many mistakes in the past including paying their top presenters too much and the broadcaster had been too conservative and lacking in transparency.

However, he pledged it would be more efficient and open in the coming years. Announcing a new vision for it as a public service broadcaster, Mr Curran said RTÉ would have 300 fewer people than in 2008 by the end of this year and priorities had to be made.

He outlined six areas on which RTÉ would focus: investigative journalism; arts and culture; innovation, including science and technology; children and young people; 24-hour news on demand; and major national events, including major sports events.

Speaking to communications students in a lecture about the media and the public, Mr Curran warned budget cuts meant service levels would have to be reduced.

RTÉ is projecting a loss of €17 million this year following changes in last December’s budget and a downturn in advertising revenues.

It is seeking to break even by 2013 and has announced at least 75 redundancies with more than 230 employees applying for redundancy in the latest round.

Mr Curran said all the top-talent fees would be reduced by 30 per cent within two years.

“We may during this process of renegotiation lose some of our most talented and loved presenters to our competitors. That would be very regrettable, but if some choose to leave, we will adjust, find new voices and new ways to deliver services and programmes,” he said.

RTÉ has reduced its costs by 18 per cent in the past two years, the BBC by 4 per cent and Channel Four by 4 per cent, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers which will be published this week, he said.

The report said RTÉ had added €472 million to the Irish economy.

RTÉ had to compete with Sky, the venture capital company Doughty Hanson that owns TV3, Independent News and Media, Today FM and Newstalk owner Communicorp, and UTV, which were all bigger in size than RTÉ.

“So to those who say that RTÉ is too big, too dominant or too controlling in this market, I would say pause for a moment, take a step back and see the real elephant barging its way into our living rooms,” he said.

Mr Curran believed Ireland had lost many things in the recession, including jobs, high-profile companies, and our overall economic sovereignty, and would likely lose still more. But he said Ireland still remained sovereign in information and culture and that public broadcasting and public media played a vital role in this.

He accused those who maintain that RTÉ should only do public service broadcasting as effectively saying that any profitable media ventures should be left to the private sector. He summed it up as “you do whatever does not make money for us”.

Without a public service remit, the €250 million annual investment in indigenous television and radio productions would not happen, he maintained.

Mr Curran said RTÉ was the most trusted media organisation in Ireland at a time when faith in so many national institutions was waning.

He said internal research showed 72 per cent of people considered RTÉ to be trustworthy.

He “publicly and unreservedly” apologised to Fr Kevin Reynolds for the recent libel in which the priest was falsely accused of raping a minor and having a child by her while working as a missionary in Kenya.

“RTÉ must always be open and honest when we do get it wrong. We must learn what we can from such mistakes and make changes if necessary – and we will. That is part of being accountable and essential to public trust and public support,” he said.

However, as a former Prime Time editor himself, he cautioned against RTÉ losing its nerve in terms of investigative journalism which he described as “incredibly risky, contentious, and difficult”.

He said “now more than ever” there was a necessity for an Irish-owned public broadcaster in a time of such media choice, or a “voice that offers an Irish perspective on the world, a daily keeper of much of what is ours”.

It was important that RTÉ be accountable, not to shareholders or governments, but to the public, he added.